Daniel: My Hero

So, I'm reading Daniel today. It's one of my favorite books of the Bible. It has the most awesome stories (Daniel and the Lion's Den, Shadrach and company, etc.). But, really, it's about four boys who refused to conform. They were teenagers, really, when they were brought into Babylon. And, because they had the wisdom to seek God and stand up for what they believed in, they immediately found favor with Nebuchadnezzar.

First, they are brought in with a group of young men who have no blemish. They are housed in the king's house, fed the king's food, and have all the amenities of palace life. All but four of them, anyway. Daniel refused to defile himself with the king's food, so he makes a deal with the guy in charge. He says, 'Just bring me and my friends vegetables and water and if we don't look better than the rest of them in ten days, then we'll eat your food.' (I'm paraphrasing a little.) So, in ten days, they are undefiled and looking better than everyone else. So much better, in fact, that the head eunich and the king could not find anyone better than our four boys.

Nebuchadnezzar has a dream. He find this dream so troubling that he is losing sleep over it. So, he calls all of his 'wise' men to give an interpretation. (Wise men includes actual smart men, but also magicians, sorcerors and astrologers.) Here, I have to give King Neb his dues. He is no idiot. He knows that these magicians and astrologers are going to lie to him and tell him whatever they think he wants to hear so that they will find favor. So, he tells them, 'First, you have to tell me my dream. Then, give me the interpretation. If you can't do it, I'll chop you into a million tiny pieces.' Clearly, these so called 'wise' men are not so wise, because they tell the king that no one can do that. So, the king says, 'kill them all.'

They seek out David to kill him, but he asks the soldier for an audience with the king that he may try to interpret the dream. Once the king okays it, he runs to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and asks them to pray for him. In the end, Daniel is able to give the king the dream and the interpretation, find favor with the king, get a superawesome job for himself and his friends, and through the whole thing, Daniel is giving glory to God. And, he's giving glory to God right in the king's face too.

Then, and this is my favorite, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refuse to bow down before the statue. They tell the king, 'You can throw us in the furnace, but we will not bow down. We know that our God will deliver us out of the fiery furnace. And, if he doesn't, know that we will never worship your golden image.' So, they are thrown in the furnace and they are delivered. You know the story. And, King Nebuchadnezzar says, 'there is no other God who can deliver like this.'

And, that is only half the book. What I love the most about this book is the courage of these four boys. They were ripped out of their country, away from their home, told to worship false gods and eat strange foods. But, they didn't. They stood up for what they believed in. They begged God for wisdom in some situations. And, in the end, because they did what they knew was right, they found favor from a man who had no respect for their customs or religion. Even King Nebuchadnezzar had to recognize that there was something different about these boys.

They were living IN the world. But, somehow they managed to not be OF the world. When people all around them were pandering to the king, worshipping golden images and false gods, and following every crazy decree, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego made the hard choice. They knew that at any turn, they could lose favor and die. It could literally cost them their lives to follow God. But, they begged for wisdom and deliverance and carried on. When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out of that fiery furnace, they didn't even smell like fire. Let me say that one more time, THEY DIDN'T EVEN SMELL LIKE FIRE.

Literally, I want to do a happy dance right now. I want to walk in a way that glorifies Him. I want to say to the king, 'I can do this because my God is awesome.' I want to do the hard thing, knowing that God will deliver me, but have the peace to know that if He chooses not to, I will still be in a better place. I want people to look at me and say, 'She doesn't even have the scent of the world on her.' How can anyone read the book of Daniel and not be encouraged? How can you not want to do a happy dance? People, we can do this! We can walk in a world of false gods, political corruption, and dirtiness. Not only can we walk, we can walk with God, glorifying Him. Sure, occasionally, we might need to beg for wisdom. But, in the end, we won't even smell like the world. Seriously, I just have to say that one more time, WE WILL NOT EVEN SMELL LIKE THE WORLD.

'God, wash the scent of this world away from me. Give me the courage to walk in Your light everyday. Give me the strength to stand up for you, even in the face of the king. Throw me in that fiery trial, but hold my hand. Give me the wisdom to deal with those trials. Give me the wisdom of Daniel and Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego. And, continue to wash the scent of the world off of me. Make me pure, holy, and acceptable to you. And, help me stay that way.'